


Days Like This

by autumnchills



Series: halloween chills [1]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Buck is an emotional man, Eddie Diaz Centric, Emotional Eddie Diaz, Emotional Evan "Buck" Buckley, Firefam Feels, Fluff, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, Happy Ending, I don't know how to tag this, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Soft Buck, Team as Family, Tears, because this is the closest to a happy fic i have ever written
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 20:03:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21258872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/autumnchills/pseuds/autumnchills
Summary: Several things are different this Halloween. One of them is that Christopher is keeping his costume a secret at all costs.Finding out is worth the wait.





	Days Like This

**Author's Note:**

> This fic essentially ignores everything in Season 3 except for the tsunami and the fact that Buck is back to work. I say that because I had this idea before the season aired and all we knew was that Buck and Christopher were going to be in the tsunami.

Eddie walks around the costume store with an unfortunate amount of things on his mind. He can’t help but think of the last time he was here, looking for a costume for Christopher.

It was a year ago, almost to the date even, that Eddie was contemplating bringing Shannon back into their lives. 

The idea that she could still be alive if he hadn’t called her crosses his mind, but he pushes it away. It’s not the first time he’s had the thought, but now isn’t the time for his self-blame game because he still has Christopher— who insists that Eddie absolutely can not see what he’s picking out. It’s the reason that Carla is here, too, armed with Eddie’s twenty dollars and a mild warning about certain costumes. 

Eddie only slightly wonders what the kid could be picking out that she can see and he can’t, but he doesn’t worry. He’s got a good and kind-hearted kid, so he knows his son’s plans aren’t anything mischievous. 

Some days, that kid is the only thing that keeps him going.

Their costume shopping is over surprisingly fast. Eddie had barely started to look at possible costumes for himself, for when he takes Christopher trick-or-treating, when Carla approaches him, a bright orange bag in her hand and a huge smile on her face. If he had taken a second longer to look, he’d see watery eyes, too, but instead, he glances past her to see Christopher, smiley as ever and waiting for them a few feet back.

Carla hands him the change, and he pockets it. “It was actually less than twenty?” he questions.

She huffs in laughter and shakes her head. “Honestly, it’s one of those cheapy ensemble costumes, but I have no doubt you and everyone else will enjoy it.”

A smile works its way onto his face, and he can’t help but feel overwhelmed with emotions— some sad and some happy.  
  
“Alright,” he shrugs. The two head toward the exit, and Eddie places his hand on Christopher’s back as they pass him. “You happy with your costume, buddy?”

Christopher nods and answers with a soft, “Yeah.” 

And they head off.

—

To his credit, he tries a few times to find out what Christopher is going to dress up as. He even gives Buck the mission of finding out when he comes by after a long shift. Eddie is grilling burgers, and he offered dinner and a beer to Buck in exchange for the information. Buck takes him up on the offer.

At the house, Eddie is just starting up the grill when Buck comes out with a couple of beers in hand. Eddie gladly takes one but shoos him off to head back in the house.

“Wait, what?” Buck asked. “Right now?” 

Eddie nods insistently. “If he knows we were talking first, he’ll think I put you up to it.”

“You are putting me up to it,” Buck supplies unhelpfully.

“Okay, yeah, but we don’t need him to know that.”

Buck laughs in Eddie’s face now. “Oh my gosh. You really are invested in finding out what he’s going to be, huh?”  
  
Eddie grabs a rag from the grill’s handle and tries to smack Buck with it, but he dodges it easily.

“Alright!” he shouts, careful not to spill beer in his jumping. “I’m going, I’m going.” 

Buck’s laughter rings in his ears even when the sound is long gone from the air around him.

Some days, Buck is one of the things that keeps him going.

Unfortunately, though, Christopher still doesn’t let loose the secret of his costume choice. His friend reports back to him with wide eyes and the same thing he’s been told but with the addition that Buck is less allowed to know than Eddie is. Of course, this only makes him more curious, but he just puts the patties on a plate and readies the toppings.

— 

Halloween comes and he finds out, at last. He dresses accordingly, and, despite it being last minute, does a decent job. Christopher beams at him in a way that he hasn’t seen since before the tsunami, and they set out on their candy-filled journey.

A warm realization settles in his chest.

—

“I can’t believe you didn’t send me photos!” is Buck’s greeting at the start of their next shift. He makes his way over to him without a second to waste. Having been pulled in by the curiosity, Hen, Chim, and Bobby follow suit. Eddie smiles and pulls out his phone.

“I wanted to show you myself,” he defends. “Kid knows how to take a grown man by complete surprise.” He pulls out his phone then, opening up his photos app and scrolling to the first of the many photos he’d taken, and that Carla had taken of the two of them.

“He said he wanted to dress up as his favorite hero,” he explains, finally getting to the first one that Eddie took of Christopher alone. 

He can practically hear each of their hearts growing five times in size at the sight of his son in a fireman costume. The hat seems a little big for his head, but the clothes seem like a perfect fit— the costume as a whole is a perfect fit. 

He catches the misty look in all of their eyes, and Buck actually wipes a stray tear from his own.

“You’re his favorite hero,” Hen hummed. 

“I totally thought he was going as Spider-Man,” Buck pipes up again. “He said he was going to be his favorite superhero, and I know how much he loved the last movie.”

Eddie points an accusing finger at his friend. “You told me he didn’t tell you!” he complains.

“I said he didn’t tell me what he was going to be. I never said I didn’t have a hint.” Eddie groans in response and Buck raises his hands in mock defense. “Hey, he swore me to secrecy. He didn’t even want to tell me.” Eddie catches the love that Buck has for his son in the man’s eyes, and his slight annoyance disappears. 

“He made you pinky promise?” he guesses.

“You know those promises can’t be broken,” Chim chimes in this time, a certain seriousness to his voice. “Doesn’t seem like he had much of a choice.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Eddie waves his hand. “He was probably too embarrassed to tell you, though.”

Buck looks perplexed at the very notion. “What’s embarrassing about your dad being your hero?”

Eddie chuckles at the comment. “It wasn’t me that he was dressing up as.” This raises even Bobby’s eyebrows. Eddie gets where their shock is coming from, though. Your kid dresses up exactly like you and says he’s his hero, only to say it’s _ not _ _you_? He’d definitely be offended if it were anyone else, but it’s not.

“You’re his hero, Buck,” he finally admits to the man. “He wanted to be you this year.”

Eddie hears something like a small _ wow _ come from Chimney and Hen’s jaw is just hanging the slightest bit. Bobby’s looking at him and Buck like a proud father, and Buck is… Buck is completely silent. It’s evident enough that he was not expecting that turn of events. 

Everyone is quiet, waiting for Buck’s response. When Eddie glances at him again, he sees Buck looking more insecure than he ever has. Tears are flowing freely down his face and he’s looking down, playing with his hands in a way that prevents Eddie from telling if he’s staring at them or still looking at the photo. 

When he speaks up, it’s a soft whisper, filled with more doubt that any of the team’s heart can bear. “Me?” is the whispered question.

“Buck, you saved the kid’s life,” Bobby affirmed. “Of course you’re his hero.” 

Eddie nods along as he swipes through some more photos. There’s a couple of Christopher with Carla— who’d gone as a ladybug this year— and even one with Christopher posing with their garden hose like he’s about to put out a building fire.

“When I saw what he was dressed up as, and he explained it to me,” he swipes through a couple more of Christopher’s solo photos, “I decided I would go as my hero, too.” He lands on one with him in the photos as well now. He’s dressed as a firefighter. “The same person that Christopher dressed as.”

Eddie barely has time to register Hen’s very loud gawk before Buck slams into him, arms wrapping him in a tight hug and burying his face into his neck. Eddie’s face ends up half smushed into Buck’s shoulder, but he can’t find it in himself to care.

“You saved my son’s life,” Eddie mutters into the shirt, knowing that there are tears working their way into his own. “You’ll always be my goddamn hero for that, Evan Buckley.”

Eddie hears a sniffle from behind him, though he’s not sure who it is, and then he and Buck are wrapped in their team’s arms.

Days like this, his team— _ his family _— keeps him going, and he has the wild thought that all of this love might be enough to make him feel like this every day. 

**Author's Note:**

> Special Thanks to my beta reader: [AngelSweeney13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelSweeney13/pseuds/AngelSweeney13)
> 
> I hope everyone has a Happy Halloween!
> 
> Please leave comments and kudos, as they always encourage me to write more! If you feel I missed some necessary tags, please let me know what it is I should add.


End file.
